The Big Time (TV Series)

The Big Time (TV Series)

The Big Time was a British documentary and reality television series made by the BBC, which ran from 1976 to 1980.

Devised and produced by Esther Rantzen and narrated initially by Rantzen but later by John Pitman, each programme followed a member of the public placed in the limelight as a result of their skill and documenting how they fared. Their progress was filmed and sundry professionals in their fields advised the amateur as they progressed.

Some of the exploits included an amateur musician conducting an orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall; a housewife becoming a TV presenter; a cookery competition winner becoming head chef for the day at The Savoy hotel and preparing a banquet lunch for former Prime Minister Edward Heath; an amateur wrestler taking on professional John Naylor on a bill at the Albert Hall on 26 March 1980 (the amateur was given the stage name 'Rip Rawlinson'); a model entering the Miss United Kingdom beauty contest; a young gymnast who became a circus trapeze artist; an amateur singer getting the chance to record a single. The latter 'discovered' the singer Sheena Easton and the edition featuring the amateur chef is credited as terminating the television career of the TV chef Fanny Cradock, who criticised the amateur's choice of menu.

When the series ended, the BBC commissioned In at the Deep End, which followed the same format only using two celebrities, Chris Serle and Paul Heiney (former reporters on Rantzen's That's Life!), as they undertook various tasks as complete beginners in professional roles. Challenges included Serle taking part in a ballroom dancing competition and becoming a snooker player partnering World champion Steve Davis in a mixed-doubles event and Heiney becoming a chef at Langhan's Brasserie, a dress designer for a catwalk show, a celebrity hairdresser (where he cut Jilly Cooper's hair), directing Bananarama's video for "A Trick of the Night" and an actor in a Michael Caine movie.